Central Nervous System News and Research

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Alcoholics should avoid excessive physical and psychological stress during early abstinence

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a hormonal system that defends against stress, starvation and illnesses.

24 Apr 2007

Origin of the brain lies in a worm

The rise of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal evolution has puzzled scientists for centuries.

21 Apr 2007

Discovery may change thinking on how viruses invade the brain

A molecule thought crucial to ferrying the deadly rabies virus into the brain, where it eventually kills, apparently isn't.

20 Apr 2007

Novel forms of synaptic plasticity uncovered

The Chicago Medical School (CMS) of the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS) have announced that Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Athanasios Tzounopoulos, has uncovered novel forms of synaptic plasticity that occur at the very first step in the processing of sound in the central nervous system. His findings are released in Neuron.

20 Apr 2007

Jefferson participates in global study to extend effectiveness of drug for Parkinson's

After Parkinson's disease patients use the drug levodopa or L-dopa for several years as a treatment for restoring the cellular communication that controls muscle movement by replacing lost dopamine, they begin to experience motor complications that include a shortened response to each dose of L-dopa.

19 Apr 2007

New combined imaging promises insights into multiple sclerosis

Researchers have developed a way to use three types of microscopic imaging techniques simultaneously to analyze living tissue and learn more about the molecular mechanisms of multiple sclerosis, information that could help lead to earlier detection and new treatments.

18 Apr 2007

Brain tumor vaccine shows promise

A vaccine for treating a recurrent cancer of the central nervous system that occurs primarily in the brain has shown promise in preliminary data from a clinical trial at the University of California, San Francisco.

17 Apr 2007

New hope for spinal cord injury sufferers

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most significant forms of neurotrauma with major economic and social impact.

17 Apr 2007

Single master gene crucial for nerve cell insulation

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how a defect in a single master gene disrupts the process by which several genes interact to create myelin, a fatty coating that covers nerve cells and increases the speed and reliability of their electrical signals.

17 Apr 2007

MS patients not receiving medications to slow disease progression

Neurologists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have found that many patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) are not taking or being prescribed drugs approved to treat the disease.

17 Apr 2007

Cortical mapping helps brain tumor removal

In 2006, it was estimated that 18,820 new cases were diagnosed and 12,820 deaths were associated with malignant tumors of the brain and other parts of the central nervous system.

17 Apr 2007

Research sheds new light on central nervous system

Research by Renee Theiss, Jason Kuo and C J Heckman, which has just been published in The Journal of Physiology, throws light on how information is processed in the Central Nervous System (CNS) to drive movement.

16 Apr 2007

Astrocytes may contribute to Lou Gehrig's disease

Two papers by Columbia and Harvard researchers report for the first time that astrocytes (the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system), which carry a mutated gene known to cause some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease), induce motor neuron death.

16 Apr 2007

Eslicarbazepine shows promise for treating epileptic seizures

A new study appearing in the latest issue of Epilepsia shows that a new drug called Eslicarbazepine (ESL) shows promise as a treatment for epilepsy patients whose symptoms remain uncontrolled with existing medications.

7 Apr 2007

Researchers show blood-brain barrier damage could affect multiple sclerosis severity

Immunology researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson studying a multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease in mice have shown that the amount of "damage" to the central nervous system's protective blood-brain barrier, in essence, opening it, almost always correlates to the severity of the disease.

7 Apr 2007

Eli Lilly acquires Hypnion

Eli Lilly and Company has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Hypnion, Inc., a privately held neuroscience drug discovery company focused on sleep disorder research.

3 Apr 2007

Stem cell therapy shows promise for degenerative diseases of the eye

For the millions of Americans whose vision is slowly ebbing due to degenerative diseases of the eye, the lowly neural progenitor cell may be riding to the rescue.

3 Apr 2007

Clearer picture of neuronal coding

The validity of a leading theory that has held a glimmer of hope for unraveling the intricacies of the brain has just been called into question.

2 Apr 2007

Brain's immune system plays protective role in early Alzheimer's disease

The immune system's response against amyloid-beta, the protein that forms plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, appears to protect the brain from damage in early stages of the devastating neurological disorder.

30 Mar 2007

Sedative-hypnotic drugs to get stronger warning labels

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested that all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drug products, a class of drugs used to induce and/or maintain sleep, strengthen their product labeling to include stronger language concerning potential risks.

14 Mar 2007